Surprise Mistletoe
by Burakku's Shadow
Summary: Everyone knows that mistletoe has a magical quality, and even the stingiest of teachers can’t resist a little magic—especially when somehow tricked into standing under said magical object.


**Disclaimer:** _Code Lyoko_ does not belong to me; never did, never will.

**Summary:** Everyone knows that mistletoe has a magical quality, and even the stingiest of teachers can't resist a little magic—especially when somehow tricked into standing under said magical object.

_Surprise Mistletoe_

A classroom door burst open, rushing footsteps quickly following. An elderly woman stopped in front of her desk and dropped her stack of manila folders, sitting in her chair with a small huff. Leaning over her desk, she proceeded to rub her temples. Sighing after a while, she sat back and opened the first folder, opened a drawer to pull out her grading pen and got to work on the assignments that were in need of grading.

* * *

Three sets of running footsteps could be heard in the hall, two young teens seen running and laughing while an out-of-shape man was chasing them.

"Hey!" the man yelled, quickly finding himself out of breath. "Get back here!"

One of the two kids ran up ahead and hid behind a corner while the other kept the man distracted. As the second kid passed, the first stuck out her leg and successfully tripped the man. They both laughed as they continued on down the hall.

"Better luck next time, Jim!" one yelled back, disappearing around the next corner.

"Agh…!" The man, now introduced as Jim, propped himself on one elbow, glaring where the kids were only seconds ago. "Darn kids…"

* * *

"Hey, Odd!" a pink-haired female greeted, watching the newest member arrive at the table.

"Swoon the cafeteria lady into giving you extra portions again?" a brown-haired male asked, also watching the purple-clad blonde sit down.

"You know how much of a lady's man he is," piped a dark-haired oriental girl, smiling.

"No, Ulrich," Odd started, "I don't need to swoon Rosa into giving me more food. But yes, Yumi, I am a lady's man," he added, smiling appreciatively toward the oriental female.

"Whatever," Ulrich said, shrugging indifferently.

"Anyway," the purple-clad blonde started, smirking at everyone. "What plans do you guys have for today, seeing as it's the last day before Winter Break?"

Yumi piped up here. "I think the number one plan everyone has is getting themselves packed and out of the school as soon as possible."

"Why?" Ulrich asked, resting his head on the back of his left hand. "Do you have something planned?"

The person in question smiled broadly. "As a matter of fact, I do! I bet you guys won't be able to figure it out."

"What's the point in guess-work? We already know you're gonna brag about it, anyway."

"You're a real spoil-sport, ya know that, Ulrich?"

"Mind getting to the details?" the oriental female asked, leaning forward curiously.

"Yeah, tell us," the pink-haired girl supported, seeming excited herself.

"Well…okay," Odd said with only minute hesitation, a sly expression working onto his face. "Here's my plan…"

* * *

As she was finishing on her millionth grading assignment, a knock on the door startled the old woman into making a slash on the paper. Grumbling incoherently as she scribbled an apology for the inadvertent mark, she rose to her feet to answer the door. As another knock sounded, she said wearily, "Yes, yes, I'm coming…"

Opening the door, she found no one out in the hallway. Before she closed the door, however, she noticed a note standing not too far from the doorpost.

"Huh," she muttered as she leaned forward, reaching to pick it up and adjusting her glasses when she returned to her full height. "I wonder what this could be."

Unfolding the note, she seemed to recognize the handwriting right away. "Pft. Odd Della Robbia, what are you up to this time…?" Reading the contents, her face hardened into a scowl, scoffing and nearly throwing the note down once she finished reading it. Muttering several synonyms for a variety of swear words under her breath, she began storming down the hallway, leaving a stack of ungraded assignments to be dealt with at a later date.

* * *

Finishing up with putting away all the basketballs his gym students had so carelessly left laying in random places in the gymnasium, Jim left the equipment closet after locking it and prepare to patrol the hallways when he noticed a box wrapped in decorative wrapping with a bright green bow sitting on the top.

"What's this?" he asked, kneeling down to pick it up. "A present from my Secret Santa?" Reading the note that read solely _Jim Morales_, he proceeded to open it up when…

_SPRIIING!_

A loaded spring with cream pie sprung out and covered his entire face with cream. Angrily wiping the mess off his face, he noticed a second note at the bottom of the box under the spring. Tossing the spring out and picking up the note, he read aloud, "_Haha, got ya! Odd_!?" Growling, crinkling the note in one fist, he practically leapt to his feet and barged through the gym doors. "Odd Della Robbia…!"

* * *

Ulrich raised a brow, doubt written all over his face. "You really think that plan's gonna work…?"

Odd nodded with the most certainty any 14-year-old boy could have, smiling broadly. "Best part is, they won't know what's coming!"

"You know," Yumi started, a grin begging to form on her face, "this plan of yours just might work."

"See, Ulrich? Even your girlfriend's rooting for me!"

"She's not my girlfriend," Ulrich quickly retorted the same moment Yumi said "He's not my boyfriend," followed by the predictable silence, staring at each other then looking away with a blush tainting their cheeks.

"Suuuure she's not," the blonde teased, nudging the brunette with his elbow ever so subtly.

"Anyway," the pink-haired girl started, smiling before leaning forward and whispering, "any chance you might have a similar plan to get Jeremie to like me?"

The purple-clad boy giggled mischievously. "I'm sure I could whip up something nice for you two, right after I'm finished with the teachers."

"Of course," she sighed, sitting back. "Just make sure you don't forget."

"You make it sound as if I forget stuff."

"That's because you do have a terrible tendency to forget important things," Ulrich piped up, having recovered. "Such as…oh I don't know, lessons for class?"

"But those aren't anything fun," Odd said almost in a whiney voice, pouting slightly. "No, I prefer to remember the more fun stuff, like April Fool's or Thanksgiving."

"Especially Thanksgiving because you love food," Yumi contributed, a laugh in her smile.

"Got that right!" the blonde boasted, leaning back in his chair proudly. "Now, though, I need to finish executing my plan. Wish me luck, guys!" Waving, he stood up and headed out of the cafeteria.

"Bye, Odd!" everyone chorused, waving him farewell as the cafeteria doors closed behind him.

* * *

Tugging a ring of keys out of her coat pocket, the elderly woman selected a single key and inserted it into the lock of a doorknob that read _LABORATORY_ in big capital letters. Yanking the door open, she proceeded to check all of the miniature exhibits.

"This had better be some bad joke," she grumbled, checking all of the equipment and moving on to the area with the animals. An epic face palm occurred when she noticed that the container with her frog specimens was missing. "Great…"

Pulling out the note again and rereading it, eyes narrowed so intensely she almost looked cross-eyed, she spun on her heels and stormed back out of the lab, only bothering to close the door before heading down the hallway in a rush.

* * *

Jim stopped walking abruptly, flattening himself against the wall as much as possible and easing himself to the side to look around the corner. Seeing no one in the hallway, he started on down, sneaking like a thief trying not to be caught. He still had some cream in his hair, though he managed to wipe it off his face.

"I know you're around here, somewhere," he muttered, eyes narrowed. Thinking that he had heard something, he repeated the step he performed earlier, body as flat against the wall as possible and easing to look around the next corner. Again, nobody was there, so he resumed his search for a certain purple-clad blonde.

* * *

A flash of purple was the only sign of something moving at lightning speed through the hall, the blonde wonder that is Odd Della Robbia working to ensure everything was going according to plan. Skidding to a stop and making sure the erase the scuff marks his shoes left, he checked a certain sprinkler to make sure the object of choice was still hanging from the shiny gold-colored thread. Assured that it wasn't going to fall anytime soon, he checked the nearby hallways that he knew would lead two certain teachers to their designated spot to make sure they were on their way. After making sure that they were well on their way, he taped a note on a wall not too far from the specific sprinkler.

"Everything's set," he whispered under his breath, smiling brightly as he hid behind a nearby door, keeping it open just a crack to watch everything fall into place. "Now, to wait for the magic…"

* * *

In a seemingly deserted hallway, two sets of footsteps coming from opposite ends could be heard. Within seconds, the two teachers, the elderly woman and the out-of-shape Jim were in the hallway and, upon noticing each other, nearly jumped.

"Jim?" she asked, almost tilting her head.

"Susanne?" he returned, eyebrows raised. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Odd to demand that he return my lab frogs unharmed," she answered, anger noticeable in her tone as she waved a note in her hand irritably. "What about you?"

"Same here," he responded, "only I'm going to give him an earful for playing a practical joke on me." He pulled out his own note from his pants pocket, holding it up to show her.

"Hmm…" Looking away, Susanne then noticed the note taped to the wall and took it down, unfolding it to read the message inside.

"What does it say?" he asked, noticing her frown.

"It says, _'Look up'_," she answered, beginning to look up herself at the same moment Jim did. Their eyes widened at what they saw.

It was mistletoe, hung by a single gold-colored thread from a sprinkler.

The two teachers looked at each other, a slight blush tainting their cheeks.

"Well," Jim started, clearing his throat before continuing, "you know the tradition."

"Yes," she answered, beginning to turn away. "But you know I'm not a very Christmassy person."

"But it's tradition," he retorted, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "I thought you were all for tradition."

Now it was her turn to raise her eyebrows. "Jim Morales, are you getting flirty with me?"

He grunted. "No, of course not. I'm just saying that it's for the sake of holiday tradition."

Slowly, her expression softened. "…alright. But only for tradition's sake, got that?"

"Got'cha," he answered, nodding affirmatively.

Ever so slowly, they leaned toward each other. When their lips touched, instead of waiting a second and pulling away, the kiss deepened, and within a minute they were fully enveloped in their kiss.

At last they pulled away, panting slightly. Still looking at one another, though through different eyes.

After awhile, Susanne spoke. "That was…oddly pleasant."

Jim nodded. "Yeah…we should do it again sometime."

She looked away for a second before resuming eye contact. "Maybe sometime during break?"

This time a smile succeeded in forming on the man's lips. "Yeah…?"

"I mean, if you don't want to—"

"Susanne Hertz," he started, placing his hands on her shoulders, "I would gladly go on a date with you over break."

* * *

Behind the door, Odd clenched a hand into a fist and pulled his arm down like he was pulling a train whistle, mouthing out the word "Yes!" with excitement written on his face. Standing up from his crouched position behind the door, he leaned leisurely against the door, looking quite proud of himself as he listened to the footsteps of the new couple heading down the hallway.

After the footsteps had left, he turned toward a box that was, for some reason, refusing to stay still. Lifting it up, a single, slimy green amphibian leapt out of an opening at the top, landing like a parrot on the young teen's shoulder.

"Franky!" he laughed, balancing the box on his knee to free a hand for catching the silly frog. After successfully placing the amphibian dubbed Franky back into the box, he pushed the door completely open with his shoulder and headed down the hall toward the lab room.

**A/N:** Wow, first _Code Lyoko_ fic I've written in eons… Well, it was a present request from a really good friend of mine, and I couldn't disappoint, so here's a little story to enjoy. Merry Christmas, Sdde!


End file.
